(spoilers below)

A New Direction for the Better?

The plots finally move forward in episode 4 but in what direction? We check in with Kawada who is trying to discover himself and what kind of porn he wants to be making. As for Kaoru and Toru, they are hard at working promoting and preparing for their satellite launch video. While Toru continues to clash with the satellite owner, Mr Umino.

Toru’s Ego Rewarded

Mr Umino is a splash of cold water to Toru. Both men are wealthy and do as they please but Toru is much more outlandish to the more subdued Umino. He doesn’t like Toru nor how he conducts himself, a slight Toru takes personally. After making an ass out of himself at a private dinner, Toru finds his brashness rewarded by Umino’s business associate. It turns out some of the uber rich like Toru, much to Umino’s displeasure. Once again Toru and his ego are rewarded, for now.

Kaoru Gone

After making Toru produce a new video for her, Kaoru is floundering. She might put up a composed face for the cameras but she is wilting privately, pounding back drinks like nothing. She and Toru’s problems finally come to a head when Toru unveils her next video. A juvenile-like setting complete with dolls and teddy bears, a stark contrast to her elegant but lewd persona. The clash ends with Kaoru leaving and newcomer Miyuki taking over.

The conflict with Toru and Kaoru seemed silly. He doesn’t want to make another video with her because of the fear that they could never reproduce the movie magic. Porn is rarely this romantic or artistic. And also this ignores history. As performers, both Toru and Kaoru starred in loads of videos. The Naked Director has been criticized for romanticizing and glorifying the porn industry. This plot point brings that critique back up while taking creative liberties on the personal history between these two figures.

Blood has come

As quickly as it was foretold, bloodshed comes to The Naked Director. A blood night club hit engulfs Toshi and his gang. Toshi is able to survive with his love interest but not without witnesses to his cowardice. I am not sure what to make of Toshi’s story. It has largely spun it’s wheels and finally takes a step forward.

But to what ends that remains to be seen. So far this story has been pretty cliché. Man stuck in life of crime falls into with a woman also trapped in her life. Only for life to keep the two apart. I can already imagine what happens next. One of the survivors enact revenge on Toshi for leaving them for a tragic conclusion. I hope I’m wrong and I hope Toshi’s story makes more context to the show in a larger sense.

Observations

More MC Donald's
The color coding of the series is fantastic
The fight scene felt a little stilted and janky

The behind the scenes production snippets are always fun and interesting to see. This time we see the crew hard at work for an orgy scene.

JAV Star Watch

At this point we can’t call it a cameo but a recurring extra. Tsukasa Aoi comes back, this time to shoot some video. Also apparently Mihiro makes an appearance here (I'm not a familiar with her stuff). Saryu Usui also makes a blink and miss it cameo.